6-foot alligator trapped in drain pipe for months in ritzy Hilton Head community finally freed

Later, gator.

A 6-foot alligator that was trapped in a South Carolina drainage pipe for several months was finally released this week.

The gator was first spotted in October, when residents in Port Royal Plantation, a ritzy gated community in Hilton Head, saw its snout sticking out of the metal grate, the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reported.

Matt Kraycar, owner of the Bluffton-based K&K Wildlife Services, finally came to its rescue on Thursday morning.

“I’ve had them in drainage pipes before, but I’ve never seen one in (a pipe) this small before,” Kraycar told the Island Packet.

“It was only a 12-inch pipe, and its body was kind of smashed in there,” he noted.

Kraycar guessed that the alligator probably got stuck in the pipe after making a tight turn and finding itself unable to swivel around.

Neighbors only occasionally saw the alligator in the drain over the past several months, and reached out to Kraycar once then knew for sure that it was trapped, he explained.

Kraycar managed to free the gator by removing the metal grate and then tugging it out using a catchpole, or a human restraining tool that looped around the reptile’s neck, the Island Packet reported.

The process took about 10 minutes of pulling, Kraycar said.

“I was shaking him back and forth trying to get him all wiggled out,” he told the paper.

The gator — which Kraycar said was probably about 6 years old — did not look malnourished, but the months in the drain appeared to have rubbed some of the skin down to the bone, he added.

The gator probably kept some weight on by feeding on small fish that got into the drainage water, Kraycar said.

The six-month stay also occurred when most gators go into brumation, or their five-month dormant period, the Island Packet noted.

“It might not have been a bad time for it to happen,” Kraycar said.

“It was probably going in and out of (dormant periods), which helped it stay healthier rather than just being down there in the summer starving to death.”

Kraycar released the gator about 50 yards away from the drain, where it could safely return to the Hilton Head lagoon.

“He kind of hobbled off a little bit, but gators are so strong — I don’t think he’ll have any issues,” the expert predicted.

Kraycar said his company removes about one gator per year from local drainage systems, which can be connected to the water reservoirs that the animals frequent.